terraform init is the first command that should be run after writing a new Terraform configuration or cloning an existing one from version control. It initializes a working directory containing Terraform configuration files and downloads any required providers and modules. The other commands are used for different purposes, such as importing existing resources, switching between workspaces, generating execution plans, etc.

State locking prevents other users from modifying the state file while a Terraform operation is in progress.This prevents conflicts and data loss1.

The default ''local'' Terraform backend stores the state file in a local file named terraform.tfstate, which can be used to track and manage the state of your infrastructure3.

This is the backend that the Terraform CLI uses by default, unless you specify a different backend in your configuration. The local backend stores the state file in a local file namedterraform.tfstate, which can be used to track and manage the state of your infrastructure.